1. Field of Invention
This invention is concerned with a method and apparatus for creating and managing consumer buying groups on electronic networks such as the Internet.
2. Description of Prior Art and Benefits of the Invention
Lawrence Lockwood, U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,951, describes an in-store automated sales and service system. In this system, the software generates a personalized sale presentation based on historical user data. Many such systems already exist on electronic networks such as the World Wide Web. See www.dell.com or www.amazon.com for further examples. Many sales organizations today operate two separate sales channels for direct sales and support, respectively. For example, a sales organization may have a call center, such as a telephone call center that allows a customer to call in and speak with a sales person, that coexists with, but is not integrated into, a web site on which the customer can automatically and interactively choose a product and configure his purchase.
FIG. 1 describes a typical process in which a consumer searches for a product and looks for competitive deals between a variety of vendors. A consumer first chooses a product category, e.g., VCRs (Step 101). The consumer next uses an on-line product comparison service to identify a set of product features of interest to the consumer and the relative importance of each feature (Step 103). Either formally or informally, the consumer arrives at either a single product of interest (e.g., Sony VCR Model No. 1460) and/or a list of product parameters important to the consumer. The consumer then searches for current retail prices for the specific product of interest or for products satisfying the product parameter list (Step 105). The consumer's search will eventually lead to a choice of whether he/she should purchase a product or not (Step 107). If the consumer decides to purchase the product (Step 107), then the consumer will buy the product from the selected merchant vendor (Step 109). Otherwise, the consumer will choose not to make a purchase (Step 111).
Another popular shopping process comprises using an online auction system, such as uBid.com or eBay.com. In such systems, the seller provides a limited quantity of certain items to be sold to the highest bidder.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,207 to Walker et al. describes a method and apparatus for effectuating bilateral buyer-driven commerce. In Walker's invention, the prospective buyers of goods and services communicate purchase offers globally to potential sellers, allowing sellers to search conveniently for relevant buyer purchase offers, and for sellers potentially to bind a buyer to a contract based on the buyer's purchase offer.
It is well known that when a buyer makes a purchase in a large quantity he can typically receive a better price than a purchase in a small quantity. What is missing in the prior art is a method and apparatus to bring together many individual buyers to form a group so that they may together seek the best deal from the sellers.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a method and an apparatus for creating and maintaining groups of buyers.
It would further be desirable to provide a mechanism and tools for the interaction of a buying group and various sellers.